Weaver: Time for Congress to stop playing cheerleaders

Sunday

May 7, 2017 at 2:01 AM

Since President Trump has now made a 180 degree turn in his stance concerning the U.S. NOT “policing the world” it is time our Congress start a discussion of President Trump’s policies toward Syria, Iran, Russia and North Korea and his responsibility to get the consent of the U.S. Congress under the War Powers Resolution which is meant to check the president’s power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without their consent.

The Authorization for the use of Military Force Against Terrorists, signed after the 9/11 attack on the United States, does not give our president an open-ended right to act against other countries who were not involved in or connected with the terrorist attack on the U.S.

The president’s first military mission, committing Navy Seals to a rare ground mission in Yemen, resulted in the death of Navy Seal Ryan Owens and 3 members wounded. Why was this mission necessary (collecting cell phones and computers) — why not use drones or missiles? Especially since President Trump had just signed a total travel ban on people entering our country from seven Muslim countries including Yemen, which may have contributed to this failed mission.

President Trump’s next mission was to bomb the Syrian Shayrat airbase, because Bashar al Assad used poisonous gas (criminal act) to attack his own people. With minimal damage and having forewarned Russia, the air base was back in operation in less than 24 hours. This was considered a win for the president, praised by both the Democrats and Republicans, even though Syria poses no threat to our country. Russia and Iran responded: “From now on we will respond with force to any breach of red lines and America knows our ability to respond well."

The next military action was using a non-nuclear “mother of all bombs” (MOAB) on a cave in Afghanistan, killing ISIS' fighters. This was considered to be another win for the president.

President Trump is taking on North Korea, whose leader, Kim Jong-Un, is doing more testing of missiles, possibly nuclear. Trump is threatening to taking preemptive military actions, and sending an armada of ships, aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and nuclear submarines to the Korean Peninsula. Actually, they were headed in the opposite direction. Since when does the U.S. give information concerning the location of our nuclear subs?

Now the president is attacking Iran concerning their nuclear deal. His administration has determined the Iranians are in total compliance with the agreement but conflating Iran’s support of terrorists with the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons as not being in the “spirit “of the agreement.

These aggressive actions taken by President Trump, who admires dictatorships, are very troubling; especially in light of his disdain for intelligence briefings (PDB), his limited understanding of international affairs, the appointment of Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobile as Secretary of State — whose only foreign experience is working with Russia for drilling rights in the arctic — and a National Security Council that seems to be playing musical chairs with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner (who has no government experience), National Security Adviser Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster and Steven Bannon of Brietbart News.

Trump’s budget also reflects a country going to war again, not one who is investing in peace working with our allies. His budget cuts to the State Department certainly concerned Defense Secretary General Mattis, who stated: “If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition, ultimately.” There was also the underfunding to the United Nations (which promotes global humanitarian-aid & co-operation) by nearly 30 percent. What are our countries goals? That same budget seems to answer that question with an increase of $54 billion going to our already bloated, nearly $600 billion in military spending.

With bullying, bellicose and bombings apparently as President Trump’s foreign policy, it is time for our Congress to stop playing cheerleaders and start asking questions, before it is too late.